#ser hugh

[hidden-ace]

knew ser hugh had to become a traitor once I saw his hair… I know the ormund deluxe when I see it

[agentrouka-blog]

Seeing as how Sansa's prayers often come true , it could be Harrold dies in the tourney after being kicked off his horse or maybe he dies bravely like Waymar Royce, another arrogant Vale lordling when he journeys North to battle the Others ?

I vote a later death.

Harry dying doesn't upset Littlefinger's plans all that much. He remains Lord Protector. Sweetrobin is much more important to him. Sansa stands to lose much more of her immediate gain in that case, but Littlefinger could still “reveal” her as Sweetrobin’s betrothed and do the same thing as with Harry, essentially.

So the shock isn’t Harry dying. (IF he does.) It’s the how.

Also, Sansa’s prayers do tend to come true, but with a delay and a twist.

Horsefaced and homely, Alayne thought.

Harry, though...

My Harry. My lord, my lover, my betrothed. (...)

She smiled just for him, and said a silent prayer to the Maiden. Please, he doesn't need to love me, just make him like me, just a little, that would be enough for now. (...)

No tears, she prayed. Please, please, I must not cry. "As you wish, ser. And now if you will excuse me, Littlefinger's bastard must find her lord father and let him know that you have come, so we can begin the tourney on the morrow." And may your horse stumble, Harry the Heir, so you fall on your stupid head in your first tilt.  (TWOW, Alayne)

We already guess what the twist on Handsome Harry’s contrast to his horsefaced cousin will be, as well as Sansa’s prayer to the Maiden to be liked, if she cannot be loved “for now”. The language is ardent. That’s promising.

Not so much the second part. I doubt Harry will suddenly break the pattern and fulfill Sansa’s prayer to the letter on the dot by actually being damaged in the tourney by accident.

We know he is no experienced warrior. His knighthood was won in a pre-arranged melee and there has been no fighting for the Vale knights. His “first tilt” is just as easily his first experience with actual battle. GRRM takes care via Brienne to show us just how excruciating it is on a mental level.

“When I was a squire young as you, I had a friend who was strong and quick and agile, a champion in the yard. We all knew that one day he would be a splendid knight. Then war came to the Stepstones. I saw my friend drive his foeman to his knees and knock the axe from his hand, but when he might have finished he held back for half a heartbeat. In battle half a heartbeat is a lifetime. The man slipped out his dirk and found a chink in my friend's armor. His strength, his speed, his valor, all his hard-won skill . . . it was worth less than a mummer's fart, because he flinched from killing. Remember that, girl." (AFFC, Brienne IV)

Considering that Littlefinger’s entire plan hinges on Harry being a willing tool to reconquer the North for her, a physically dangerous endeavor, it would actually be rather horrific for Sansa if Harry ended up dying in battle, perhaps even nobly, after she wishes him ill.

It would mirror the death of Ser Hugh in his fancy new moon-and-falcon armor in the Hand’s Tourney, only escalated to actual warfare. Arrogant, knighted too soon, little experience...

That boy today, his second joust, oh, that was a pretty bit of business. You saw that, did you? Fool boy, he had no business riding in this company. No money, no squire, no one to help him with that armor. That gorget wasn't fastened proper. You think Gregor didn't notice that? You think Ser Gregor's lance rode up by chance, do you? Pretty little talking girl, you believe that, you're empty-headed as a bird for true. Gregor's lance goes where Gregor wants it to go. (AGOT, Sansa II)

A chink in the armor is also the downfall of the similarly moon-and-falcon attired Ser Vardis Egen by the hand of dirty pragmatist Bronn.

Bronn was on him in a heartbeat, kicking what was left of his shattered rondel aside to expose the weak spot between arm and breastplate. Ser Vardis was lying on his side, pinned beneath the broken torso of the weeping woman. Catelyn heard the knight groan as the sellsword lifted his blade with both hands and drove it down and in with all his weight behind it, under the arm and through the ribs. Ser Vardis Egen shuddered and lay still. (AGOT, Catelyn VI)

Vardis died senselessly for Lysa, and Tyrion is released to go and befriend the mountain clans.

What are Harry’s arms?

The arms of Hardyng and Waynwood were displayed in the first and third quarters, respectively, but in the second and fourth quarters he bore the moon-and-falcon of House Arryn, sky blue and cream. (TWOW, Alayne)

Uh oh.

There is impending violence with the mountain clans, more than likely, which is one way for it to happen, or he could actually survive long enough to fight and die in the North when Sansa calls the knights for help. Either way, he will die for Sansa and it will be his blood on her hands, to a certain degree. I bet he will even die half a hero.

The man may not be a virtuous paragon of chivalry, but he is no monster and he is a father of soon enough two children and he has done nothing to Sansa to warrant a terrible punishment. She is the one who is induced to make use of him. If little Alys Stone became an orphan because Harry defended her interests, Sansa would regret her petty wish, and likely reconsider her approach to the lives of men who fight in her name.

The twist might be the bitter lesson for Sansa: tourneys are games, but there are no toy knights, only men of flesh and blood.

What was the first thing Sansa said about Harry?

She did not want to look stupid, though, so all she said was, "I pray he proves a worthy knight." (AFFC, Alayne II)

She prays. And her prayers come true.

[agentrouka-blog]

Could Mountain(Gregor) attacking and killing the Ser Hugo of Vale is foreshadowing for mountain clans attacking Vale and Harry death? "The point of Ser Gregor’s lance had snapped off in his neck, and his life’s blood flowed out in slow pulses, each weaker than the one before. His armor was shiny new; a bright streak of fire ran down his outstretched arm, as the steel caught the light." Fire and Blood are mentioned.

Oh, I absolutely think the entire chapter has a lot of foreshadowing for Sansa's Vale arc. The Royces, the use of the word avalanche (which apart from maybe one time in the Vale is always connected to battle over the natural phenomenon), the tourney itself and, of course, upjumped squire Ser Hugh.

Sansa sadly reflects that no songs would be sung of Ser Hugh. She even forgets his name.

So if not directly Harry's death, Ser Hugh's end foretells the disruption of the chivalrous display at the Vale tourney. Most likely by something that rolls down the mountains like some angry armed clans looking to survive the winter.

I think Hugh contains more than just Harry, though. His name itself recalls Hugor Hill (a.k.a. Tyrion) in Essos who witnesses a monstrous bloody moon over Old Valyria, the fire-bright arm recalls Quentyn's song-less death by dragon or even Victarion and Moqorro on the Iron Victory, so certain of his success with Dany.

Arms showing a streak of fire when hit by the light, in the context of a young man bleeding out, also hints at Jon's death and the impending revelation of his true "arms" being exposed from secrecy.

The revelation of a fiery identity (and the name Hugh-Hugor) also brings to mind Aegon VI, previously under the guidance of a Jon (Connington) just as Hugh had been squire to a Jon (Arryn). Felled by a thunderous black beast, something that applies to Gregor on his stallion as much as it does to Drogon.

This connection to Jon and Aegon makes the exclusion from "the songs" all the more interesting when you consider Rhaegar's big title drop in the context of Aegon's birth ("His is the song of ice and fire"), and his desire for "one more" child for the sake of prophecy.

The same veins hits the idea of an arm of fire ("fiery sword") as brandished by Stannis. (Which also has a reference here in the shape of Thoros and his fake-fire sword.) No songs.

The song of ice and fire is not the story of some shiny new hero rising up to face one doomed enemy with a magic weapon.

It is going to be a lot more complex than that.

[streetmaille]

#7 - Ser Hugh of the Vale acquired a beautiful new coif and long sleeve hauberk, but they didn't help him much against The Mountain.

Top 10 Chainmail Costumes in Game of Thrones

[mr-k-walker]

Ser Hugh of the Vale dør ved Hand's Tourney. (A Game of Thrones kapitel 30 / tegneserie #9 / Game of Thrones TV-serien sæson 1, episode 4 / “25. oktober” år 298.)

Hugh tjente som væbner for Lord Jon Arryn i fire år indtil denne døde under mystiske omstændigheder. Blev straks herefter slået til ridder af kong Robert I, og blev i King’s Landing da Lady Lysa Arryn og følge drog tilbage til The Eyrie. Fik smedet den for ham usædvanligt dyre rustning, han senere var iført under turneringen.

Lanse-dysten handler om at vælte sin modstander af hesten, ikke om at slå denne ihjel. Hugh fik en splint af en lanse i halsen under duel med Ser Gregor Clegane, der er allieret med House Lannister og burde have styr på sine våben.

[gameofthronesdeaths]

Ser Hugh of The Vale